# What is it with you Yanks?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 17, 2001, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870 "2001-02-17T11:19:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Defender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defender)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/1 "2001-02-17T11:19:31Z")
Why do you not mark an item in a shop with the price you actually pay like the rest of the world? (And yes most of the rest of the world has sales taxes as well but the have the cop on to give all inclusive prices)
Why do you say " Have a nice day" and not mean it. Why not say Hello which simply means ah ah “Hello”!
Why claim to speak English and then change the bloody language?. A sidewalk IS a footpath, A faucet IS a tap etc for those of you that can’t speak English properly.
The list is endless. So comeon and say what other eccentricities you have noticed about the Americans.
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/2 "2001-02-17T11:37:46Z")
Well howdy dude.
Sure reall nice to kinda see guys roun’ like you.
Hey, now I alluss wondered why its called a sidewalk 'stead of a pavement.
Shucks, guess its jus’ little lovable ol’ me a’joshin’ ya.
If yu jus’ come on down I’d like to show you another li’l ol’ ecentricality, see ah ave this\*\* BIG MUTHERFUCKIN GUN\*\* and a few hounds.
Ah guess ah’m achin’ t’show you what they’re used for.
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### Author:  [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/3 "2001-02-17T12:07:35Z")
Why do you Brits claim to speak English and then change the language? The letter h is a consonant, not a punctuation mark. It is NOT, moreover, a sign of good breeding to insert extra vowels into words at random. And the word controversy is NOT accented on the second syllable, unless you want to make crawl the skin of anyone with the slightest ear for graceful speech.
I have to agree with you about the way prices are marked without the tax, though. Stupid, that, IMO.
Have a nice day.
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/4 "2001-02-17T14:13:34Z")
I fear **Defender** may be the latest graduate from the **G.Nome** School of Clarity and Diplomacy.
Oh, Okay. The one that usually makes me smile is Buck-ing-HAAM Palace as opposed to the natives version: Buck-ing-um Palace. As in “um……how much is this dysfunctional family costing us” ? (question mark put intentionally outside quotation marks. Call me old-fashioned).
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### Author:  [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/5 "2001-02-17T14:16:40Z")
Why don’t you fucking limeys ever brush your teeth?
Why do you continue to subsidize the royal family ( the world’s richest welfare family)?
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/6 "2001-02-17T14:25:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And yes most of the rest of the world has sales taxes as well but the have the cop on to give all inclusive prices.
So this is the _King’s English_ I’ve been hearing so much about.
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### Author:  [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/7 "2001-02-17T14:45:52Z")
_Claim_ to speak English?
[ul][li]Althorp[/li][li]Haverford[/ul][/li]I can’t think of any more examples of the Queen’s mangled language from that godforsaken shithole of an island at the moment. A little help?
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/8 "2001-02-17T14:53:08Z")
**Defender** , you blithering idiot, try doing a little research and see if you can discover why usage of a given language in different locations may gradually diverge over the course of, say three hundred years. I suppose cockney dialect offends you as well?
If you are for some reason desperate to insult a group of complete strangers, at least try to come up with something a little more original.
:wally
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/9 "2001-02-17T15:17:57Z")
Please explain the following pronunciations to me:
“Birmingham” – “Brum”
“Edinburgh” – “Edinburra”
“Torquay” – “Torky” (rhymes with “dorky”)
“Norfolk” – “Norfuck”
“Suffolk” – “Suffuck”
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/10 "2001-02-17T15:18:07Z")
Look, everybody knows that Oxford English is only spoken in the Netherlands, so you Limeys and Yanks can both suck my left one.
And, for good measure, you Canucks can too!
😃
[sub]In other words, not the best of ways to introduce oneself to a message board, **Defender**.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/11 "2001-02-17T15:19:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Defender_\*\*
> Why do you not mark an item in a shop with the price you actually pay like the rest of the world? (And yes most of the rest of the world has sales taxes as well but the have the cop on to give all inclusive prices)\*\*
Uh…yeah. The US is not alone here in this.
Why do the British absolutely refuse not only to include the VAT on the prices of Web-based hotel reservations, but will also typically not even mention that there is a VAT, or tell you what the percent is?
Why is it the last 3 English hotels I e-mailed told me the VAT-less price, when I asked specifically for the price + VAT?
Why would I gripe about something so trivial? Why would the OP do the same?
I know now I will probably be attacked again for daring to bring a little GQ into the Pit, but I don’t care.
FTR…the reason large chains and/or TV and print ads do not list the price with tax is that every single State, County, Town, School District, and Homes Association (last two facetious) can apply a different tax rate on the purchase. Thus, to give the true and accurate price, a TV or print ad would have to be specific for each and every city or town, or would have to have a long list of towns and their varying prices. One drawback to the concept of home-ruled taxes. However, my understanding is that the VAT is universal across the UK, and thus there is **no excuse** for not listing it - unless the assumption is that no tourist would ever come from outside the country.
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### Author:  [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/12 "2001-02-17T15:22:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by APB9999 \*
> **And the word controversy is NOT accented on the second syllable, unless you want to make crawl the skin of anyone with the slightest ear for graceful speech.**
The worst pronunciations that the Brits use, IMHO, is when the second syllable of a three-syllable word has an “i”, and they pronounce it as a long “i”.
Examples:
cervical --\> “ser-VIKE-al”
urinal --\> “yer-RINE-al”
enquiry --\> “in-QUIRE-ee”
Yuck.
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### Author:  [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/13 "2001-02-17T15:25:18Z")
C’mon, gang, usually you see right through this kind of baited gag. Less than 10 posts? And he starts this kind of ineloquent, illiterate, deliberately inflaming post?
I smell a troll. Feed him if you must, but at least realize what he is.
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### Author:  [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/14 "2001-02-17T15:28:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> \*\*Please explain the following pronunciations to me:
>
> “Edinburgh” – “Edinburra”\*\*
Ahh, the Scottish “burgh” is pronounced “borough”, except that the Scots use an alveolar flap (like the “t” in Americans’ pronuciation of “city”) instead of an /r/. This makes it sound like more like “burra” (except that it’s really more like a cross between “buh-tuh” and “buh-duh” with a flap for the “t” or “d”).
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/15 "2001-02-17T15:44:57Z")
Birmingham is indeed pronounced Birmingham, more or less. Brum is a nickname for it.
[Is](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9836) [it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9471) [that](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59904)[time](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=9755) [of](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=38326) [year](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=46077) [again](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=47791)?
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/16 "2001-02-17T15:49:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> **Please explain the following pronunciations to me:**
>
> “Birmingham” – “Brum” - _This one’s just an abbreviation which, unlike Birmingham itself, is not the same thing as an abhorrence_ 😉
>
> “Edinburgh” – “Edinburra” _It’s Scots- I can’t understand anything they say at all so you tell me_
>
> “Torquay” – “Torky” (rhymes with “dorky”) - _That’s funny 😃 - How do you pronounce it ?_
>
> “Norfolk” – “Norfuck” - _I can confirm this is a misnomer_
>
> “Suffolk” – “Suffuck” - _I don’t want to confirm this is a misnomer_
**Anthracite** :
I guess the answer is they aren’t obligated to do so. Therefore, if one _did_ include tax in their online prices the others would seem cheaper to the casual surfer.
I think it’s an internet thing but it might also be a UK legislation issue. Agree, it is frustrating and misleading.
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### Author:  [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/17 "2001-02-17T16:13:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> \*\*Please explain the following pronunciations to me:
>
> “Torquay” – “Torky” (rhymes with “dorky”)\*\*
Just noticed this one.
I’m guessing it’s because “quay” (meaning “wharf”) is pronounced “key.” (Why this is, I do not know. But it is.)
As for the “folks” (Norfolk, Suffolk) – I don’t know of any English dialect where the “l” in folk is clearly pronounced as an “l”. That just leaves the vowel sound which is different, which isn’t really all that unusual. I don’t have a better explanation than that, I’m afraid.
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### Author:  [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/18 "2001-02-17T17:16:07Z")
There is a town in Saskatchewan called Torquay…I know someone from England who pronounced it in the English manner here, he confused the people he worked with . We had sensibly changed it to tor kway…with a long A. A fine example of a shibboleth.
Keith
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### Author:  [@Defender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defender)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/19 "2001-02-17T17:22:27Z")
Casdave:What can I say other than you have confirmed some of my worst fears.
APB9999: Dangerous to make assumptions such as presuming I am British which I’m not. I never claimed to be perfect in either writing or speaking English. Didn’t know I had to be British to comment on the an aspect of US society.
Well at least we agree on sales taxes.
Ruffian: If your other 1043 posts were as interesting it is obvious that the pills just aren’t working for you and you should change prescriptions.
Isn’t it extremely sad that so replies suggest a race incapable of taking even the smallest criticism without becoming all high & mighty. No wonder firearms are legal in the U.S.Get a sense of humour and become like the rest of the world.
Sales tax being added at point of sale is still daft and I don’t care how many people think differently
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### Author:  [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-you-yanks/54870/20 "2001-02-17T17:55:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Defender \*
> \*\*
> Sales tax being added at point of sale is still daft and I don’t care how many people think differently \*\*
They add the tax on after so that you can see how much the government is taking out of your pocket everytime you buy something. The tax is supposed to be visible, not hidden. Perhaps you would prefer a tax that the government could raise, or lower(hah!!), without the people knowing?
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